TV/Radio Notebook: New projects excite Sabol

TV-RADIO NOTEBOOKNFL Films guru sees top 100 list generating debate

Published 5:30 am, Friday, July 30, 2010

You can read about the Roy Oswalt trade in merciless detail elsewhere, so we begin with our annual chat with NFL Films president Steve Sabol, who is in his 48th season as TV’s primary spinner of football lore and mythology.

Sabol, who at 67 has the energy and imagination of at least three 30-year-olds, is bullish on several NFL Films projects, beginning with the Aug. 11 return to HBO of Hard Knocks, which focuses on the Jets, and the Sept. 3 debut on NFL Network of The Top 100: NFL’s Greatest Players.

"I think (Hard Knocks) will be the most-watched, most talked about, most publicized, most scrutinized series that we’ve done in our history," Sabol said. "There are so many ingredients; it’s like a double stuff Oreo cookie. I’ve never been so nervous about a production, because there is so much potential and so much expectation."

The Top 100, which begins its 10-show run in September on NFL Network, sounds at first blush like a reach for Sabol, who is wary of countdown shows that he said "are all the same — frantic, disjointed graphics, filled with irrelevant statistics."

He hopes NFL Films avoided the trap by assembling a solid staff of Hall of Famers, coaches, scouts, GMs, historians and writers, to pick the top 100 players in NFL history.

"There are challenges to that," he said. "For one thing, football is not as statistically driven as basketball and baseball, and it’s harder to quantify greatness.

"I was in a sports bar last year and saw a highlight of Adrian Peterson, and a kid who looked like he was 9 or 10 said, ‘He’s the greatest runner I’ve ever seen.’ Then a kid who looked like his older brother said, ‘You never saw Barry Sanders.’ Somebody else in the background said, ‘Gale Sayers was more exciting,’ and another said, ‘Yeah, but there was this guy named Jim Brown.’

"I see this as a show that links generations. Fathers and sons and grandfathers can all sit down and watch. It won’t end any arguments, but we sure as hell can start some."

ESPN and LeBron II

At the same time I was talking Wednesday afternoon in downtown Houston with John Skipper, ESPN’s executive vice president for content, about a list of topics that included the much-maligned The Decision, ESPN was plunging into yet another controversy involving LeBron James.

According to the Associated Press, ESPN.com on Wednesday removed a story from the site concerning James’ activities during a weekend in Las Vegas. ESPN said the article, by ESPNLosAngeles.com reporter Arash Markazi, was available for about 91/2 hours on its server Wednesday.

Rob King, editor in chief of ESPN Digital Media, said the story would not be posted on the company’s Web site because the reporter "did not properly identify himself as a reporter or clearly state his intentions to write a story. … The decisions to pull the prematurely published story and then not to run it were made completely by ESPN editorial staff without influence from any outside party."

Markazi said in a statement that he understood the decision but added, "It is important to note that I stand by the accuracy of the story in its entirety but should have been clearer in representing my intent to write about the events I observed."

Portions of my conversation with Skipper will appear on the Four DVRs, No Waiting blog spot at chron.com. Topics include the World Cup, ESPN’s programming strategy, the 30 for 30 documentary series and the future of ESPN Classic, ESPNews and ESPN’s local Web sites along with, of course, The Decision.

Regarding the latter, Skipper said that despite criticism from a wide range of observers, including ESPN’s ombudsman, former TV executive Don Ohlmeyer, he believes ESPN defended its editorial integrity, did not compromise its principles by paying for an interview and, in the process, delivered a blockbuster rating for the network.

"I think we protected our newsgathering," he said. "We made an arrangement that doesn’t keep me awake at night. … There were things that were less than completely wonderful about the arrangement. I will bear the responsibility for making the decision that we’re not going to be able to change these and get the program."

He added, "We did the highest rating for a non-event (program) in the history of ESPN, so if I have another situation where I think I can do the highest rating in the history of ESPN, I might do it. But … is this going to be a model for something? No."

Four DVRs, no waiting

The Roy Oswalt deal Thursday removed most of the drama for Astros fans, but seamheads of all persuasions can still follow progress toward the MLB trade deadline from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday on MLB Network. Richard Justice will be among on-air contributors. MLB Network Countdown: The 40 Most Memorable Trades in MLB History will air at 5 p.m. Saturday. …

For the first time since 2003, the Red Sox on NESN have lost the top spot for local game Nielsen ratings among regional sports networks. The Cardinals lead with a 9.7 average rating on Fox Sports Midwest, followed by the Twins on FS North at 7.85, the Phillies at 7.2 and Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia and the Reds at 6.52 on Fox Sports Ohio, followed by the Red Sox at 6.25.

The Astros are 24th at 2.46 on Fox Sports Houston, down 19.6 percent, according to data compiled by Sports Business Journal. …

ESPN2 did a 1.1 Nielsen rating and 2 share in Houston for the MLS All-Star Game at Reliant Stadium. ... inDemand is promoting the Juan Manuel Marquez-Juan Diaz rematch Saturday on pay per view from Las Vegas with some free features at its Web site and on digital cable, including a preview show, the weigh-in, the Marquez-Marco Antonio Barrera fight from 2007 and the Diaz-Michael Katsidis fight from 2008. …

Fox Sports will pipe Braves-Reds to KRIV (Channel 26) at 3 p.m. Saturday. Thom Brennaman and Kevin Millar have the call. … Fox Sports analysts Jay Glazer and Daryl Johnston have signed on to contribute to NFL Network’s NFL Total Access and other news shows. Both also will continue their duties with Fox. …

Brad Nessler and Trent Dilfer will call ESPN’s Sept. 13 doubleheader game between the Chargers and Chiefs. Mike Goldberg and Mike Golic called last year’s opening Monday night nightcap. … Veteran scribe Chris Mortensen, who is sufficiently savvy to avoid visiting Houston during August, stops off at Texans training camp Saturday as part of his league-wide sweep with ESPN colleague Adam Schefter that kicked off Thursday. …

Versus will split the screen during its UFC card Sunday night between commercials and activity in the arena, similar to the format it has used in the past for IndyCar Series races. Light heavyweights Jon Jones and Vladimir Matyushenko will meet in the main event. …

ESPN says it will air 13 3-D broadcasts of college football games this season, beginning with Boise State-Virginia Tech on Sept. 6, Miami-Ohio State on Sept. 11 and Clemson-Auburn on Sept. 18. …

ESPN will roll out the next 13 installments of its 30 for 30 documentary series on Tuesday nights beginning Aug. 24. The list of previously announced films include Michael Jordan’s minor league baseball career on Aug. 24, Hannah Storm’s film with Lisa Lax and Nancy Stern on Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova on Sept. 14, Enron documentarian Alex Gibney’s Steve Bartman film on Oct. 26 and Pony Excess, on the SMU death penalty, on Nov. 9.

Newly disclosed topics include Sept. 7, 1996, Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon fight in Las Vegas that coincided with the shooting death of rapper Tupac Shakur; a collaboration with MLB Productions on the 2004 Red Sox-Yankees ALCS, the fractured relationship between former Yugoslav teammates Drazen Petrovic and Vlade Divac, whose friendship was shattered by the Balkans unrest of the 1990s, and a two-hour film on Heisman Trophy presentation night, Dec. 11, on former Mississippi high school and Oklahoma star Marcus Dupree. …

George Dunham, Craig Miller and Gordon Keith of sports radio giant KTCK in Dallas-Fort Worth are among finalists for major market personality of the year in the National Association of Broadcasters’ Marconi Awards. No Houston hosts were nominated, but Scott Innes, the father of KILT’s (610 AM) midday host Josh Innes, was nominated in the medium market category for his work on WYNK in Baton Rouge. …

Finally, allow me to note the death this week of Leah Siegel, an ESPN producer based in Dallas who had suffered from breast cancer for about two years. She was 43 and is survived by her husband and three children.